Woods Bagot has begun construction on the redevelopment of the former Funan DigitaLife Mall, into a mixed retail, office, and residential project that will expand its previous function as the definitive IT mall in Singapore by incorporating the tech experience throughout its entirety.

The 887,000-square-foot project will be composed of a six-story retail, dining, and lifestyle podium, two six-story office towers, and one nine-story housing block. These programs will be connected vertically, and are designed to appeal to tech- and socially-savvy consumers interested in a creative environment.

“With community, connectivity, and convenience at its core, Funan will cater to the new breed of consumers who favor a collaborative environment and authentic experiences that reflect their passions and tastes - said the architects on a recent press release.

In support of the “farm to table” movement, and to make dining an educational and fun process, the project will feature a 4,000-square-foot rooftop urban farm, where the public can learn more about the origins of their food, and “adopt” a plot to grow their own produce.

Additionally, to support of Singapore’s shift towards a car-light society, as well as to promote healthy living, Funan will be Singapore’s first commercial building to allow cycling through the building, with multiple access points and gentle slopes to better accommodate cyclists and pedestrians. Cyclists will additionally be given access to bike shops and cafés, lockers, and showers inside the building, to better their biking experiences.

Overall, “the design intent is to create a porous streetscape environment on the ground floor” between the existing streets, as well as to maintain and enhance the existing footbridge links across the streets at upper levels.

Based on the idea of the root structure of the Tree of Life, the retail façade of the building is made up of a perforated, diagonally folded, and undulating panel design that “[wraps] and [exposes] program and circulation routes, to create and highlight dramatic entrances, balconies, and exterior F&B spaces, that breaks down the massing of the building to have a dialogue with the surrounding urban fabric at a human scale.”